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Shinsho Hanayama
Shinsho Hanayama (1898-1995) was a philosophical scholar, academic and professor at the University of Tokyo and Buddhist priest. He became known after World War II as the Buddhist ...view moreShinsho Hanayama (1898-1995) was a philosophical scholar, academic and professor at the University of Tokyo and Buddhist priest. He became known after World War II as the Buddhist priest at Sugamo Prison who served as a spiritual adviser to Japanese war criminals and witnessed their executions.
Born in Kanazawa, Hanayama developed a deep interest in the cultural and spiritual formation of and the widespread Buddhist interpretation by Prince Shotoku (574-621), whose book “Commentary on the Shoma Sutra” had been the subject of his Doctor’s thesis.
After his work of spiritual guidance at Sugamo Prison, Hanayama decided to prepare and to publish both the diary extracts that he compiled daily during his duties as chaplain, including the essential part of his relationship with the indicted soldiers and politicians as well as a selection of writings by the prisoners up to the day of their execution, which took place on December 23, 1948.
This compilation was first published in Japanese in 1949 under the title Heia no Hakken—Sugamo no Sei to Shi no Kiroku (The Way of Deliverance: Three Years with the Condemned Japanese War Criminals) to great critical acclaim. It is widely regarded not only for its highly valuable historical significance, but also for its portrayal of humanity and its literary prose.
Hanayama died in 1995.view less